The present invention relates to a nectarine tree, designated varietally by the name "Harvest Sun", and more particularly to a nectarine tree which bears an attractively colored fruit which ripens for commercial harvesting and shipment approximately at the same time of the season as the Ito Nectarine Tree (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 4,518), but which is distinguished therefrom in bearing fruit which have a pleasing substantially globose shape, a crisp flesh texture, and an excellent flavor.
For decades the applicant has grown large acreages of fruit trees for his employer the H. P. Metzler & Sons company of Del Rey, Calif., and has further constantly sought to produce improved varieties thereof. One of the several procedures utilized by the inventor to produce new fruit trees has been to germinate large numbers of seeds of unknown parentage, grow the resulting seedlings to maturity, and then evaluate the resultant trees and the fruit produced thereby. The subject variety of Nectarine Tree, "Harvest Sun" is a product of the above-identified procedure. More particularly, the subject variety of Nectarine Tree was originated from seed that was collected from the applicant's employer's Nursery No. 13 which is located at 5286 South Del Rey Ave. in Del Rey, Calif. The seed, which was collected in 1977, was planted in the applicant's employer's same nursery at Del Rey, Calif. The seedling of the present variety was germinated by the applicant and grown with thousands of other seedlings on this same ranch until its unique qualities were detected and appreciated.